Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.

"We created a dashboard, but nobody's looking at it"—we hear this story from a surprisingly large number of people in the field.

The cause is pretty much clear: "Everyone is being shown the same dashboard."

What executives want to see is the projected end date for the month and the number of risky deals. Managers want to see whose negotiations are stalled. Sales representatives want to see a list of customers they should be working with today. If you show the same screen to all three of them, it will be a "useless screen" for all of them.

EMOROCO CRM Lite's dashboards can be designed with different screens for each role. This article explains how to design the optimal dashboard for each of the three levels—executives, managers, and sales representatives—down to the specific settings required.

1. The fundamental principle of dashboard design: A screen that "shows the user what action to take next."

The value of a dashboard lies in one thing: "It tells you what you need to do today." That's all.

Even if a dashboard displays beautiful graphs, if the viewer doesn't understand "So, what should I do now?", then that dashboard is nothing more than a decorative object.

Since the "next action" differs depending on the role, the dashboard also needs to be designed separately for each role.

Basic structure with a three-layer design

Simply being aware of these three layers will fundamentally change the design of your dashboard.

2. Management Dashboard – Understand the "Overall Health" in 5 Minutes

Business owners can only dedicate 5-10 minutes a week to their CRM dashboards. Therefore, the dashboard needs to be designed to allow them to understand the current state of their company's sales performance within that limited time.

The core of the design: highlight only the "abnormalities."

What managers should focus on is not what's going well, but what's causing problems. It's okay if they can't see what's normal. All they need to see are the red lights.

Four KPIs to include on the executive dashboard

① Forecast of orders received this month

This is the sum of the total amount of orders received plus the value of hot projects (high emotional temperature). It allows you to see at a glance "where you are now in relation to this month's goal."

Setup method: Display the KPIs for the number and amount of sales records "accounted this month" and the total amount of "emotional temperature = hot × scheduled to close this month" for each deal record.

② Total pipeline value and health

This shows the total deal value across all phases and the number of deals in each phase. It helps determine if there are sufficient ongoing business negotiations. Months with a thin pipeline jeopardize securing orders in the following two months.

Setup method: A bar graph summarizing case records by phase. The fewer the phases, the higher the risk.

③ Emotional temperature distribution (all customers)

Breakdown of customer emotional temperature (hot/warm/cool/cold). If cool or cold accounts for more than 30% of the total, it's a dangerous level.

Setup Instructions: Visualize the sentiment temperature field of customer records as a pie chart.

④ Number of missed response alerts

This shows the number of cases where there has been no contact for more than 30 days, or where the BPF (Business Process Forward) has been stalled for more than two weeks. An increasing number of such cases is a sign of a decline in sales activities.

How to set it up: Display the number of records that have been in contact for more than 30 days as a KPI.

Example layout for a management dashboard

If your executives stop using the dashboard for a week, it's a sign that there's too much information, or that the information is too complex to interpret. Narrow down your KPIs to just four.

3. Manager Dashboard – Understand the current state of your team in just 10 minutes each morning.

The manager's dashboard is designed to eliminate weekly reporting meetings. The goal is to make it possible to find the answers to questions like, "What's the status of Company A?" or "What's the progress on Project B?" without having to ask them in a meeting.

The core of the design: "Bringing stationary things to life."

What managers fear most is the situation where they "fail to notice a problem." The dashboard should be designed to "automatically highlight things that are stalled or deteriorating."

Five views to include on the manager dashboard

① List of stalled projects (most important)

A list of projects whose BPF phase has not changed for 14 days or more. Displays the name of the person in charge, project name, number of days in a stagnation, and last updated date.

How to set it up: In the view of case records, apply the condition filter "More than 14 days have passed since the last update" and display in descending order of the number of days since the last update.

② List of emotional temperature levels below "cool" and unaddressed.

This is a list of customers whose emotional state has turned cool or cold for more than 7 days. It visualizes "customers who are on the verge of cooling down but are being neglected."

How to set it up: In the view of the account record, apply the condition filter "Sentiment Temperature = Cool or Cold × 7 days or more since sentiment temperature update".

③ Monthly order progress by person in charge

The bar graph displays each sales representative's progress against their monthly target. You can compare everyone's progress on a single screen and determine who needs coaching.

Setup method: A bar graph summarizing sales records by salesperson and month. Draw a target line on the horizontal axis.

④ Action completion rate for this week

The overall team completion rate for "tasks due this week." If the completion rate falls below 50% for a week, there may be issues with team members' workload or prioritization.

How to set it up: Displaying the KPI ratio of "Due date this week x Completed/Not completed" for task records.

⑤ Conversion speed from new lead to first contact

The average number of days from when a new lead is registered until the first contact (creation of an activity record). An increase in this number indicates a delay in responding to inquiries.

Setup method: A KPI calculated by aggregating the difference between the lead record registration date and the first activity date.

Steps to replace weekly meetings with a dashboard

1. Everyone looks at the dashboard before the meeting.(10 minutes)
2. Only agenda items listed on the stalled projects list will be discussed.
3. "Projects that are progressing smoothly" will not be discussed.—The dashboard indicates that everything is going smoothly.

These three rules alone will transform a two-hour weekly reporting meeting into a 30-minute decision-making meeting.

[Common Mistakes in Manager Dashboards] Including "Employee Input Rate" on the manager dashboard can lead to the input becoming a performance indicator for team members, resulting in inaccurate data. Input rate should be kept separate and monitored by "CRM Doctor".

4. Sales Representative Dashboard – Check your "Today's Action List" in 30 seconds.

For sales representatives to actually check their CRM dashboard every morning, it's absolutely essential that it's designed so that they can see what they need to do that day in just 30 seconds.

No complicated analysis is needed. All you need to know is, "The customers you should contact today are listed in order from top to bottom."

The core of the design: Automatically generate a "Today's Priority List".

The biggest problem sales representatives face every morning is "Who should I contact today?" This system scores contacts based on a combination of emotional intensity and the last contact date, automatically determining priorities.

Three views to include on the sales representative dashboard

① Today's Action List (Most Important)

This is a list of customers who meet the following criteria, sorted in order of priority.

Setup method: Create multiple views based on the above conditions and display them vertically on the dashboard. Sales representatives only need to process them from top to bottom.

② My progress this month

This tool compares your current month's order amount and number of orders with your target. It allows you to see at a glance "how many more orders/how much more money you need to reach your goal." It's even more effective when displayed in conjunction with the number of days remaining.

Setup method: Display the KPI for "Salesperson = Yourself × This Month" in the sales record. Enter the target value in the field.

③ Emotional temperature map of assigned customers

This chart shows the emotional temperature distribution of all your clients. It helps you understand what percentage of your clients are "cool" or below. A rising percentage indicates that your overall client relationships are becoming strained.

Setup method: A pie chart of sentiment temperature created by filtering customer records by "Responsible Person = Yourself".

Three ways to establish the habit of "watching it every morning"

Tip 1: Set the URL of the dashboard you want to bookmark as your browser's homepage. This creates a situation where "the dashboard is the first thing you see when you open CRM."

Tip #1: Share your dashboard during the morning meeting. For the first week, the manager will share the sales representative's dashboard during the team's morning meeting. This helps them get into the habit of "discussing their action plan while looking at today's priority list."

Tip #3: Turn it into a game where you try to get 0 items on your list for the day. Set the goal to "get 0 items on your action list for the day and go home." When a customer is processed, they either update their emotional temperature or complete a task—this also helps reinforce input.

5. Rules for using the three-tier dashboard

Start with the "minimal" settings.

Trying to create a perfect dashboard from the start will only make it more complex and unusable. Begin with a maximum of four KPIs and three views per role.

We'll start with just this, and add any missing information that comes in from the field.

Monthly tuning of the dashboard

Once a month, you will tune your system by answering the following questions.

• Are there any KPIs or views that nobody is looking at? → Delete
• Were there any requests to see those numbers on the dashboard? → Add
• Were there any instances where looking at the dashboard changed your decision-making process? → If successful, it's a success. If not, revise the design.

[Common mistake: Too many KPIs] "Since we're at it, let's add this too," "I want to see that number as well"—when KPIs keep increasing like this, important information gets buried. The only information that should be on the dashboard is "information that will change people's behavior when they see it." Do not include "information that will just make people feel at ease."

6. Summary – Dashboards are "devices for changing behavior"

A dashboard is not a report. It's not a tool for looking back at the past, but a tool for changing your actions today.

In this article, I'll summarize the core of the three-tier dashboard I designed into three points.

• Design by role: Business owners, managers, and sales representatives have different needs. Don't show them the same screen.
• Design that "shows only the abnormalities": It's okay not to see what's normal. Just highlight what's causing problems.
• Start with the bare minimum: Initially, we'll have 4 KPIs and 3 views. We'll develop them as we use them.

EMOROCO CRM Lite's metadata-driven design allows you to build all of these dashboards without coding. No programming is required; field staff can add, delete, and rearrange KPIs themselves. The problem of "dashboards not being used" is a design problem. Start today by creating one dashboard for each role.

[The first step you can take starting today] First, try creating a "Today's Action List for Sales Representatives." Simply create a list of customers with an emotional temperature of Cool or lower and whose last contact was 14 days or more ago, and it will automatically determine "who to contact today."

You can try it with a 30-day free trial.
Digitalization and AI Implementation Subsidy 2026 Compatible Tool Number: DL07-0022934
Product Info:https://www.emoroco.com/

Related article

• How to eliminate weekly reports and streamline deal management using the EMOROCO CRM Lite dashboard for sales managers.
• "How we eliminated weekly reporting meetings" - How EMOROCO CRM Lite's dashboard changed how executives use their time.
• Running a weekly PDCA cycle for SoI: A practical guide to automating Plan, Check, and Act with EMOROCO CRM Lite
• Integrating OKRs, KPIs, and KGIs into EMOROCO CRM Lite: Designing a CRM that connects management goals with on-the-ground activities
• How to Properly Create Custom Fields in EMOROCO CRM Lite: A Design Philosophy and Industry-Specific Templates to Prevent "Unfilled" Fields